Georgia’s Democratic state legislators may be the only members of their party who failed to hitch a even a short little ride on Obama’s coattails.
The Republican edge in the state House of Representatives looks to drop from 34 seats to a 33 or 32 seat margin. Whoopie.
No incumbent state senators lost and Republicans look set to hold onto their 34-22 margin. (more…)
DeKalb is one of the few counties in Georgia that actually feature a couple of competitive races this year for state legislative seats.
Most state House and state Senate contests in the county — like elsewhere in Georgia — aren’t competitive at all. State lawmakers did too good a job gerrymandering their own districts so that challengers would find it nearly impossible to unseat them.
But there are challengers who stand a chance in two North DeKalb House districts that fall along a jagged boundary of aging suburbs — inside or straddling the Perimeter — where demographics are changing quickly enough to give Democrats a chance to win Republican seats.
One of the vulnerable incumbents is Rep. Jill Chambers of District 81 (Chamblee and Doraville), the only Republican incumbent in a district that voted for John Kerry in 2004.
Chambers faces additional hurdles this time: She’s been the focus of attacks by the Dunwoody Crier newspaper for her stance against Dunwoody cityhood; a DeKalb man told police earlier this month that she confronted him at his home after he filed an ethics complaint against her (the complaint accuses Chambers of violating campaign finance rules by accepting more money than allowed from a business on whose behalf she later introduced beneficial legislation); and her opponent, Chris Huttman, is an experienced Democratic activist.
We appreciate the fact that Chambers has been among the most independent Republican voices in the General Assembly. Her willingness to buck GOP orthodoxy on issues ranging from education to transportation to Dunwoody cityhood has been refreshingly practical.
But her behavior at times has been erratic and high-handed. Earlier this month, Huttman — a bright young blogger who’s articulate on the issues — was the subject of a shamefully misleading flier from her campaign. It’s the kind of nasty politicking that all voters should be wary of, regardless of their ideology.
It also makes sense for the middle-class, aging suburbs that make up the 81st District to elect a candidate from a party that will represent middle-class interests. Huttman fits the bill.
In the neighboring District 80 (which runs from Druid Hills to Brookhaven), formerly Democratic Rep. Mike Jacobs has an unfair advantage in his first re-election campaign as a Republican.
Challenger Michelle Conlon, a solar energy consultant, has been forced to run as an independent instead of as a Democrat. That happened because Republican Secretary of State Karen Handel refused to reopen campaign qualifying for Democrats after another Democratic candidate was disqualified for residency reasons. Appearing on the ballot as an independent is almost certain to harm Conlon’s chances, even though she has Democratic Party support and promises to caucus with the Democrats in the House.
Jacobs has been a diligent representative. He knows the district, stays in touch with civic groups and works hard on constituent service. But his switch to the GOP, after winning re-election under the Democratic banner, was troublingly opportunistic — particularly because it was accompanied by craven support for such harmful ideas as House Speaker Bill Glenn Richardson’s irresponsible tax plan.
Residents of this highly educated district deserve a more thoughtful voice on the big issues that confront the Legislature. We side with Conlon in her uphill battle.
For more posts from CL’s 2008 Voters’ Guide click here. Come back next week to download our Voter’s Cheat Sheet.
Michelle Conlon wants you to know she isn’t really an independent.
It’s a long story, but I’ll try to keep it brief: Conlon, a renewable energy consultant, had planned to run against mid-Dekalb state Rep. Mike Jacobs as a Democrat. Jacobs upset many of his constituents last year when he switched parties to become a Republican. But another Democrat candidate, business owner Keith Gross, persuaded Conlon to sit out the race. Secretary of State Karen Handel later found Gross to be in violation of the residency requirement and bounced him from the ballot — but did not reopen qualifying. So, in order to get into the District 80 race, Conlon has been forced to run as an independent. But most folks naturally assumed her to be a Democrat.
Apparently, Conlon was worried that not enough people had gotten the message. This morning, she held a telephone press conference with House Minority Leader DuBose Porter, D-Dublin, to remind us that although there’s an “I” behind her name, she’s really a Democrat and would caucus with the Democrats if elected. Democratic leaders have been helping Conlon’s campaign and funneling her contributions, but it seems she wanted to underscore that link with a public statement.
Although Jacob arguably has a majority-Democratic district, he’s known to be an effective campaigner who stays in touch with his constituents, so Conlon has a tough challenge ahead of her — even as a Democrat.
One of the other less-publicized fights amidst all the November election brouhaha has been between Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel and Michelle Conlon, an independent candidate for state House District 80. In late July, the secretary threw out a petition Conlon circulated to be considered eligible to face Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-DeKalb, the incumbent. Conlon then appealed Handel’s decision in Fulton County Superior Court.
And now, according to her press release, she’s won. You’ll see her name on the ballot come November against Jacobs.
From a campaign release:
Michelle Conlon, Candidate for House District 80, has prevailed in her lawsuit to compel the Secretary of State to place Ms. Conlon on the ballot in November.
“This is exciting news not only for me but for the voters in the district who deserve a choice on the ballot. I am looking forward to moving past this distraction,” said Conlon.
…“It is unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to get the Secretary of State to abide by her statutory responsibility to review the petition, but we are pleased with the result,” said Ms. Conlon. “I look forward to campaigning on the issues that matter to residents of House District 80.”
Conlon will be listed on the ballot as an Independent Candidate; however, she plans to officially announce her victory at an Obama Acceptance Speech event Thursday evening at Galla’s Pizza. Conlon hopes her message will appeal to Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike.
“Mike Jacobs needs to be fired. This is not the guy we elected. And he has not given us the representation that we were promised. He switched parties’ mid-term, voted for predatory lending, to cut public education funds and for guns on MARTA. When your representative cannot decide who he is or want he wants, he is ineffective in representing you,” said Conlon.
Now that she is on the ballot, Conlon is optimistic regarding her chances in November. She notes: “More people signed my petition than voted for my opponent in his July Primary.”
Click here to visit her campaign website. The full release from the Conlon campaign is pasted after the jump.
